Frenchie Basics: Showtime Ratatouille

The Story

If you’ve ever had a good ratatouille , it’s a memory that’s hard to forget. For me ratatouille means “family dish”. Large chunks of tender vegetables, impregnated with the ripe flavors of the summer sun. Juicy, but not watery, and with a rich savoriness that tastes more sinful than its virtuous ingredients indicate.

I need you to use GOOD quality ingredients. Like in every recipe: if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. The tomatoes and other vegetables in particular need to be ripened by the summer sun. The olive oil is also SO important because in ratatouille, it’s a seasoning. Use a bold cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil that tastes like the olives it comes from, stay away from “light taste”.

But most importantly, ratatouille needs time. Time for the garlic, onions and bell peppers to caramelize, making them sweet and developing the taste that seasons the rest of the stew. Time for the vegetables to soften, and of course time to coax the essence from each ingredient, allowing them to mingle and reduce before being reabsorbed by the zucchini and eggplant.

This is one of those dishes that get better when reheated. So don’t be afraid to make a big bash that you will reheat again and again (great to put in the freezer as well).

Emilie is a French food lover, proud Parisian and founder of thefrenchwaytohealth.com. On her website, she shares delicious recipes, health tips and tricks. Her goal is to gather and share the habits and rules that have been used and approved by French people for decades. That means cooking your own meals efficiently, enjoying whole foods, eating mindfully and never ever using the word diet again while losing weight.